I am not a cop but I do work for a Police Dept. The cops need to see malicious intent with something like this before they can file charges. Sounds like there was none of that here. To me, it sounds like an honest mistake. Money was repaid, your Sheriff said there is no need for a report so I'd just consider it a dead issue. Don't dwell on it. Certainly don't rub the (former) treasurer's nose in the situation. Mistreating this person would make them shy about volunteering in the future and potentially create bad feelings. When relying upon so many volunteers as we do, one crabby one can go a long way to scare off several potential volunteers. None of us would want to see that happen.

I agree with Jim; sounds like a stupid mistake (unless these personal items were huge $$), and I wouldn't want to embarrass a well-meaning volunteer any further by trying to file a police report.

We had that situation occur in my PTO, except the treasurer noticed the error herself -- but unfortunately didn't document that she had repaid. She was a long-time volunteer and the board was sure she had repaid. But the IRS doesn't bother to look at that level of detail (our 501c3 application is currently pending).

If this was an honest mistake, I'd bet the checkbook is a pretty standard format with a non-nondescript "ordinary" cover. You might want to jazz up the cover or replace it with something unique so there's no chance of it being mixed up again.

At our house we have 3 checkbooks (his, hers, ours). When I carried the PTO checkbook, that made four with plain dark covers. I never wrote out of it by mistake, but I did pick it up by mistake now and then and end up with the wrong one in my purse. Add some distractions, maybe a crying toddler - it could have happened.

You're not going to have any problems whatsoever with this. Sounds like it was a legitimate mistake and was brought to the proper attention right away, and resolved satisfactorily. I do hope that the Treasurer was not asked to step down over a mistake like this...

Persoanlly I don't like the two signature requirement. As long as the president maintains comunication with the Treasurer, and keeps apprised of the transactions, everything should be fine. We use the PTO Manager program to keep track and I obtain copies of the bank statements and periodically verify against the accounting program. So far no issues.

In addition, both the Treasurers and myself have a "company" credit card and it makes life so much easier. Since we make most of the purchases for the group we don't have to worry about getting a check, knowing the proper amount, who to write it out to, etc. I simply use the card and provide the receipt to the treasurer.

Good luck,
PresidentJim

I agree with Critter. When I write a check, it has to have two signatures on it. Always mine and then the presidents or our teacher representive can also be a co signer. You can set that up as a requirement with your bank. That may be very helpful.

I don't see how this incident would cause problems down the road with your 501c3. But I am curious how the incident came to light. This might be a good time to ensure your PTO has the proper financial controls in place to minimize the chance that something like this could happen again.